The Curse of Unemployment 1936

Friedolin Kessler made this woodcut, "The Curse of Unemployment", in 1936. See how the stark black and white contrast grabs your attention? It's like he's carving directly into our consciousness. Look at the brute force of the marks. The texture feels rough, urgent, like a scream pressed onto paper. This isn't about pretty pictures; it's about something heavy. The way he renders the giant figure of unemployed, it feels like it’s not just standing there, but looming, pressing down on the figures below. Then there is the skeleton playing a violin behind the desperate couple, “Youth Arrested” and “Wanted for Crime” scrawled above like graffiti. This reminds me of Käthe Kollwitz, the way she used printmaking to tackle social issues with such raw emotion, but where Kollwitz goes dark, Kessler leans into satire. It’s a tough balance, turning pain into a picture, but he manages to start a conversation, not end one.